


Nothing

by JWade



Series: Anything [4]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-05
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-09-28 11:23:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 22,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10098194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JWade/pseuds/JWade
Summary: Fourth in the Anything series. As little Karame grows up, they notice something different about him. Something that will bring them back into the fold of a world long thought in the past for Loki.





	1. Chapter 1

Sam helped Loki out of bed despite the fact that the god didn’t actually need any help. He knew well the desire of new father’s to baby their partners after a birth. He had been on the other side of it often enough and accepted it with grace. They took their new bundle of joy downstairs to introduce him to the rest of the family who were gathered waiting for news. They were kind enough not to rush them the second they came down the stairs and let them come fully into the room before they crowded around to get a look at the baby. “Everyone meet Karame Samuel AvLoki,” Sam said proudly. 

“Karame,” Hela breathed out as tears filled her eyes. “It’s perfect.”

“It is. The perfect tribute,” Fenrir said, much in the same state as his sister. 

“He’s so tiny,” Dean said in awe reaching out a hand to run a finger down the baby’s face. He hadn’t seen the twins before they were already a year old. Of course they had been three months old when Sam met them and it was still a huge difference. He too had been taken aback at how tiny the newborn was. 

“I wanna see too!” Either Hati or Skoll whined being too short still to see the baby even if they hadn’t been crowded out by the adults. Loki chuckled and went to sit down with him, and the rest of the adults let Hati and Skoll through. “He’s so cute!” they exclaimed in unison. “Can I hold him?” one of them asked. 

“How about we just let their parents get to know him today and we’ll see about the rest of us getting a turn tomorrow,” Fenrir interrupted before anyone else had a chance to answer. 

The twins grudgingly accepted that, and now that they had seen the baby, Hela and Dean took their little ones back to their apartment, still wanting to stay close by instead of going to Helheim and Fenrir took his little rascals outside to run with Blondie for the afternoon so as to give the couple some alone time. Sam and Loki spent the afternoon cuddling with Karame first on the couch and then taking him back up to their room where Loki had a cradle waiting. Sam was an old hat with diapers now thanks to Narfi and Nari, but he sound found that newborns squirm a lot more. 

The next morning, no sooner than they came downstairs Hati and Skoll were chomping at the bit to hold the baby. Neither Sam nor Loki was comfortable with them walking around with the baby so they had them sit on the couch before handing him over graciously, not going far away. Over the course of the day, everyone got their turn to hold him, except Dean who was afraid of breaking him. It didn’t take long for him to get over that though and by weeks end he was just as willing to do so as the rest. He jokingly picked on Sam for taking so long to get comfortable with Narfi and Nari, but they all knew that was different. Dean at least had some experience already, just not with one so small. 

Karame aged normally until he was a year old just like Narfi and Nari had and for a while they had three one year olds in the house. Just six months after Karame turned a year old, the twins started aging again though so it didn’t last long. One morning not long after that, Sam woke up to go check on Karame and stopped short as he entered the room. It seemed the shifter ability really did run in the family because there in the crib was a tiny little black furred panther kitten. Sam had learned from the change of Narfi and Nari, and managed not to panic, but he did go wake Loki to come see. 

“Well it’s about time we had a feline in the family,” Loki joked as he cooed at the little kitten. Just one more animal to add to the menagerie. When Karame woke up a few hours later, they carried him down the stairs, not about to let him try to brave them even with being a feline that would land on his feet. Taking a chance with pets was one thing, but this was their son. 

“Aww. Look at him!” Fenny exclaimed as he spotted them coming down the stairs, kitten in tow. “Did he have to be a cat though?” he pouted as everyone laughed. 

“Can we play with him as wolves?” Hati and Skoll, predictably asked. They had a ball playing with Narfi and Nari as hedgehogs and a panther would be even more fun. 

“Not today, kiddos. Let’s give him today to get used to his new form,” Loki told them. They did pout slightly but didn’t argue. Not long after that Dean and Hela brought Narfi and Nari out and they apparently hadn’t gotten the memo of no animals today as they quickly changed and bounded over to the panther that was trying to get its balance on new feet. Dean and Hela decided to take them to Helheim for the day to avoid any difficulty with the not yet two year old twins.

They didn’t leave before Dean asked his brother, “How bad did you freak?”

“I didn’t. I learned from your mistakes,” Sam teased. 

Loki chuckled. “Once you’ve experienced one, after that it’s not quite so scary.”

“Shocking sure, but not scary,” Sam pointed out.

Dean just grumbled on his way out. 

 

They had noticed that Karame was a quiet baby. Unless someone was directly interacting with him he had a tendency to just sit quietly as though he were listening to something with the facial expressions to go with it. “I’m sure it’s nothing,” Loki assured his worried partner. “Maybe he’s telepathic?” he suggested and he turned his attention towards the baby who was currently sitting quietly facing the wall. ‘If you can hear me look at me’, Loki thought to him and waited a second before he shrugged. “Either he’s not telepathic, he doesn’t feel like listening, or he has too much going on in there to pay attention to me. It could be any of the three. Either way, you don’t need to worry. Gods aren’t succeptible to human disorders like autism and down syndrome. He’s perfectly healthy, physically and mentally. He’s just a little different from the other kids is all.”

“If you’re sure,” Sam said not quite believing. It just wasn’t natural for a child to be so quiet. Especially when he seemed to respond to things no one else could hear or see. He wished Loki had been able to confirm whether or not he was telepathic. If he had a reason he would feel better. It would make sense and he could forget about it. 

 

Their next worry was when Karame didn’t start aging again. Hati and Skoll had already started and stopped again at eleven. Narfi and Nari had stopped again at four, but they were going on almost five years of Karame at a year old. Even Loki said that was outside anything he’d ever known. Fenrir was the strongest of his kids and even his break had only been three and a half years at a year old. It was Fenrir who came up with a possible reason. “Do you ever wonder…” he started and then paused, not really wanting to bring that time up. 

“Wonder what?” Sam asked gently, seeing the god’s reluctance. 

“Well…when Jormy died and dad almost lost the baby, when the rest of us slammed him with as much power as we could…I wonder how much kitten here got,” he said with a shrug. 

“So you think…” Sam trailed off trying to wrap his head around his step-sons train of thought. 

“I think…he may just end up being far more powerful than any of us ever dreamed and that’s why he’s taking so long to age again,” Fenrir said bouncing the baby on his knee before talking baby talk to him. 

“That’s not a bad theory,” Loki said as he walked back in the room, Hati and Skoll bounding behind him. They had begun to come into more active deliberate powers this time around, being old enough to control them now, so Loki and Fenrir and occasionally Hela would take some time each day to work with them on their powers and the correct use of them. Hela had her hands pretty full with Helheim and her own four year old twins so she didn’t help as much as the others who had little else to do, but she enjoyed teaching and guiding her nephews so she made time when she could. 

“Could he be more powerful than you?” Sam asked his bonded nervously not particularly liking the idea of his son being the most powerful being on the planet. 

“Nah. That’s not really possible, but he could end up being close to my power level if Fenny is right,” Loki assured him.


	2. Chapter 2

Sure enough, just over five and a half years after Karame turned a year old he began to age again. They had tested his potential telepathy many times over the years, and it was looking less and less likely that it was the case. They would have to wait until he was old enough to talk to them to find out what he was listening to during those times. Thankfully the next aging break should be when he was around four years old so he should be capable of articulating what he was hearing by then. 

They were all very glad when Karame was potty trained. Sam had often grumbled that the first aging break should wait until three or four so they didn’t get stuck with five plus years of diapers. Loki just laughed and shook his head. He could understand the sentiment, but given the fact that most of the people in the house could change them with a wave of the hand, it didn’t bother him much. It was only Sam’s insistence on helping with it the hard way that had him changing them at all. He wisely refrained from pointing that out though, knowing Sam could be a bit touchy about that kind of thing. Once they were able to get back to the real world, it would be easier for the hunters, but for now, being the only ones around without powers could be a little discouraging. 

Karame didn’t start speaking until he was older than normal. He was almost three years old before he uttered his first word, but they all quickly noticed that his speech was far more advanced than most three year olds. Not so much so as to seem unnatural, but advanced just the same. He still rarely spoke unless spoken to, though, and even then they often had to get his attention first. He still seemed to listen all the time to something no one else could hear. Often he had a blank, faraway look on his face, but they soon noticed a pattern of sorts emerge. 

Once a week around lunchtime, he would suddenly stop eating, sometimes pausing with his spoon halfway to his mouth and tilt his head and seem to listen intently for a few minutes before resuming his meal with his usual faraway look on his face. It wasn’t long after they noticed this pattern that they all started getting more and more impatient to find out what he was hearing, but none more so than Sam, who still feared that there was something wrong with his son. Despite Loki’s assurances, it seemed far too much like the different mental issues that tended to plague humans for his comfort. 

The next time Karame focused like that during lunch, Sam couldn’t help but ask, “Karame, what do you hear?” He made sure to use a forceful tone of voice that usually broke through the haze surrounding his son’s mind. 

When Karame started to speak though, they all got goosebumps. It was his voice, but not his words. The inflection was all wrong and the babyish slurring wasn’t present. The words themselves shook Loki to the core though. “Gabriel. I’m asking you please, as your eldest brother, just meet with me. Just speak to me. Come to Father’s garden. I will be watching for you. I will come in peace, Gabriel, as I trust you will.” That seemed to be the end of the message because Karame zoned out again. 

“What…what was that?” Sam asked trying to will down the icy fear that clutched his heart. 

“He…he must be hearing the angels. I…I don’t know how. He doesn’t have any grace. I’ve made sure of that,” Gabriel said, just as frightened as Sam. If they knew he could hear them, they would assume that he had grace and Gabriel had just found a way to hide it. They would hunt him forever. Not to mention that it shouldn’t be possible. 

It was Dean of all people that offered a potential explanation. “Not long before I came here, I met a girl named Anna. She could hear the angels too. We found out later that it was because she used to be an angel, but she ripped out her grace and fell, being reborn as a human. Could that be what happened here?”

“The angel would have had to fall at the exact moment that Sam and I conceived and that’s…”

“Cas…” Dean breathed out. 

“What?!” Sam exclaimed. 

“Cas. When he gave me that message, he was being hunted. If they caught up with him…it was around the right time…” Dean trailed off as he realized what it would mean if he was right. That his old friend was now his nephew. 

“This angel who wasn’t an angel anymore…did she still have her memories?” Loki asked. He wanted to find out everything he could about this phenomena that he’d never heard of before and what it could mean for his son. 

“Not at first. She kept getting flashes while she was being hunted by the angels. Like the banishing sigil when they had us cornered and stuff like that. Then we got a psychic to hypnotize her and get the rest of her memories.”

“So they were after her? Why? Because she could hear them?” Sam asked alarmed. 

“No. They were after her because apparently she had broken the law before she fell, or maybe falling itself was breaking the law. They were never too clear on that,” Dean said as he realized that the same would hold true for Karame. Cas was a rule-breaker. They would hunt him in whatever form he was in. Even as a child god with no memory of his previous life. After all, Anna hadn’t had her memories yet when they started going after her. There was one thing Dean was confused about though. “Anna couldn’t hear them for most of her life though. She only started hearing them when I got released from hell.”

“Karame isn’t human. His mind has the capacity to hear on many different wavelengths already. It didn’t need the jumpstart that hers did,” Loki said as he pinched the bridge of his nose. This was a nightmare. 

“I don’t understand. If he was hearing the angels, wouldn’t you have heard too?” Sam asked. 

“I turned all that off millennia ago. I never even considered the possibility that he could…damn it,” Loki said as he got up from the table and paced for a few minutes. They all gave some space to think things over, despite the fact that they were all just as on edge. Even Karame was paying attention now, sensing that something was going on. Loki suddenly turned and knelt next to Karame’s seat. “Kari, I need you to think very carefully for Papa okay? Have you ever talked back to the voices at all?”

“Uh-huh. Then they kept asking me stuff and I didn’t like it, so I stopped talking back,” Karame told them. “Did I do bad?” 

“No, sweetie. You didn’t do anything bad. Just don’t talk back to them anymore okay?” Loki told him softly. “Why don’t you go run with your cousins for a little while after lunch and have some fun.”

“Can we run as aminals?” Karame asked hopefully. 

“Sure,” Loki said with a forced smile. They had grownup stuff to talk about and he didn’t want Karame to know just how bad this could be. 

“Yay!” he cried and all five kids ran out the door, already changing into wolves, hedgehogs, and panther. 

Loki hastily threw up a ward to keep even their enhanced hearing from listening in. It was time for a family meeting. “Is this as bad as I’m afraid it is,” Sam asked biting his lower lip. 

Loki pulled his husband into a tight hug. “Don’t worry, Samshine. You know I’ll move heaven and earth to defend my family. Nothing will hurt any of you, especially Karame, as long as I’m breathing.”

“That’s what I’m worried about,” Sam whispered, burying his face in the god’s neck. 

Loki took a deep breath, drawing strength from his lover’s embrace before he stepped back and dropped the bombshell. “I have to go see Michael.”

“No! Loki! You can’t!” Sam cried, echoed by the rest of the room. The last time any of them went up against angels they lost Jormy, and almost lost Loki and Karame too. 

“I don’t have a choice. He obviously wants something from me. Something that I could use to bargain for our son’s safety.”

“Or he’s just trying to lure you out to kill you,” Fenrir growled.

“No. That’s why he suggested the garden as the meeting place. It’s between dimensions so as close to neutral ground as possible, and any violence is strictly forbidden there. It’s why humans were kicked out in the first place. To harm another within the garden would be unthinkable, especially to Michael.”

“I don’t like it,” Sam said. “It seems too much like a trap.”

“And it may be, but if there is even a chance of saving Karame, then I have to do it,” Loki said firmly. At the worry on Sam’s face, Loki softened. “It’ll be okay Samsquatch. I’m not the trickster for nothing. I’ll be on my guard, and worst case scenario, I’ll at least be able to get away.”

“If you die on me, I’ll kill you,” Sam sniffled as he pulled Loki in for another tight hug.


	3. Chapter 3

“So we don’t get a say in this at all?” Hela asked. 

“I will listen to anything you have to say, but the final decision is mine and it will have to be something good to change my mind,” Loki told her. 

“What about if you die, Sam dies and Karame is orphaned? Is that good enough to change your mind?” Dean asked heatedly. 

“And if they start actively hunting Karame they can use his connection to the angels to find him wherever we go. We won’t ever be able to hide again. It’s likely that the only thing that’s saved us so far is the fact that Michael wants whatever he wants from me. If he gives up, then we are all screwed. Not just me and Sam, but all of you too. I will make whatever bargains I have to make in order to protect us all.”

No one could actually argue with that, much to their dismay, but Sam pulled Loki aside before he left. “If he wants your life…and mine…in return for Karame’s safety, don’t worry about me. We will still have each other, no matter what comes next and Karame will be well taken care of by Hela and Dean and Fenrir. If it’s the only way…do what you have to do,” Sam told him. He knew that Loki wouldn’t hesitate to lay down his own life if necessary, but he would hesitate about laying down Sam’s and now that they were bonded it was one and the same and Sam wanted it made clear that he would do whatever he had to do to save his son. He didn’t want Loki holding anything back for his sake. 

Loki wanted to argue. To deny that he would ever do that, but he knew that Sam was just as willing as he was to give his life for their son. To save Sam…and himself…at the cost of their child would be unthinkable. “Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that,” Loki told him as he pulled him into a desperate kiss. He would do what he had to do, but that didn’t mean he wanted to consider it any more than he had to. “We need to get you all to Helheim while I’m gone.”

“I’ll get the kids,” Dean said trying not to choke up as he headed out the door to call them in. 

When they got to Helheim, Nari was the first one to notice the missing person. “Daddy? Where’s Papi?” she asked. 

“Papi had to go out for a little while. He’ll be back later,” Dean told her. The six year old accepted that, but the twelve year old twins looked at the adults suspiciously. They knew that Papi never went anywhere and that they were all in hiding. 

Fenrir noticed that his boys weren’t fooled and he knew he would have to tell them something if he wanted to keep them from asking too many questions and alarming the other kids. “You guys go ahead. We’ll join you in a few minutes,” Fenrir said, holding Hati and Skoll back. 

“Is Papi in trouble?” Hati asked bluntly. 

“You know that Papi can handle anything that gets thrown at him,” Fenrir tried to reassure them. 

“That means yes,” Skoll deduced. “Is it because of what Karame hears?” 

“The fact that Karame can hear the angels makes things complicated. Papi just needs to make sure it doesn’t cause any trouble. That’s all,” Fenrir gave them the barest explanation possible. They were old enough now that they could handle a little more information than the little ones, but he still didn’t want to overwhelm them with too much. He knew the best way to keep them quiet about it was to put them in the mind of protecting their cousins. “We don’t want to scare the little ones though so keep all this to yourselves okay? And remember, it’s not Karame’s fault.”

“Of course not!” Hati said looking scandalized that their father would even think they could blame Karame. “We’ll keep it quiet,” he assured him. 

“Good boys,” Fenrir said proudly, pulling them both in for hugs before they headed inside to join the others. 

 

Loki put on his armor and pulled out his archangel blade before he headed to the garden. There was no use taking chances. He wouldn’t start a fight, but he would be prepared for one anyway. He couldn’t afford to let down his guard. He was only there for a few minutes before he felt a presence behind him, and spun into a crouch blade in hand ready to defend himself. “Peace brother,” Michael said hands held high in a universal gesture of surrender. 

Gabriel looked him over appraisingly. He wasn’t wearing any armor and wasn’t visibly armed, but Gabriel knew that could change in the blink of an eye. Still, it seemed that Michael really was here peacefully. For the moment at least. “What do you want Michael?” He asked suspiciously. 

“To talk, Gabriel. I’m glad you finally came.”

“I don’t listen to the angels anymore. I just now got your message. Now what do you want?” he asked darkly. He had no intention of sitting here making small talk with the person who ordered the kidnapping of his grandsons and bonded mate, caused the death of his son, and almost cost him another child. He would find out what Michael wanted and start the negotiations and that was all. 

“I have made a great many mistakes over the millennia, Gabriel, and I’m more sorry than I can say that you seem to have borne the brunt of the consequences,” Michael said sadly. Gabriel narrowed his eyes suspiciously as his stance relaxed slightly from defensive to confused. “After we lost Lucifer, and father, I was adrift and I lashed out, at both you and Raphael. I turned him cold and drove you away. When I thought…when I thought you were dead, I blamed myself and I locked myself away. I was in charge, yes, but I left all the details to Raphael. I never even knew you were still alive until you appeared in my office that day. If I had known…You must know I would never have condoned going after children, no matter whose they were. I would never have attacked your family unless they truly were Nephilim and even then it would have broken my heart to do so.”

“What are you saying, Michael?” Gabriel asked tentatively. 

“Things have changed in the last eight years. After you came to visit me, I came out of my office and actually took a good look around and I hated what I saw. Everything was so different from how it used to be. There were no smiles or laughter anymore. There were cold, hard, ruthless soldiers everywhere I looked. I saw what Raphael had made of heaven in my absence and I resolved to fix it. To make us a family again.”

“And how does Raphael feel about this change of heart?” 

“He is resistant. He has a core group of followers that are less accepting of the changes, but they are few in number, and he wouldn’t dare move against me.”

“So what does this have to do with me?” Gabriel asked. He had wondered for a moment if Michael was looking to team up against Raphael, but if he had the situation well in hand, why had he been looking for Gabriel. 

“I want my family back, Gabriel. All of it. Including you and yours,” Michael said softly. 

“And the apocalypse?” 

“If you are truly bonded to the younger vessel the apocalypse cannot be completed. Not now. Perhaps one day the vessels will be born again and then it will be time, but for the time being, there is nothing to gain by continuing the path and everything to lose.”

Gabriel considered things for a moment. If Michael was telling the truth then this changed everything. He didn’t particularly want to return to heaven, even on a part time basis, but if that was what it took to guarantee his families safety, then he would humor his brother. It was time to begin the negotiation. He wasn’t sure if Michael was aware of Karame’s ability, but even if he wasn’t now, he would find out eventually and this way Gabriel could control the flow of information. “Are you aware that when an angel rips out their grace and falls they are reborn and maintain some level of connection to heaven?” 

 

“I was not aware of the continued connection. How do you know this?” Michael asked curiously. 

“Raphael sent seraphs after one such person whose connection with heaven was activated during the ruckus of the righteous man being rescued from hell. She could hear the angels speaking and I suppose Raphael either feared what she would hear or decided to take the opportunity to track her down for old crimes. Either way, Dean Winchester helped her get her grace back and escape.”

“That is very interesting, and I will make sure that she is left in peace in the future, but what does that have to do with this situation?” Michael asked confused. 

“My youngest son, the one that I was pregnant with when I last saw you, he is a reborn seraph. He can hear the angels.”

“And you wish to ensure his safety,” Michael guessed correctly. When Gabriel gave a tense nod, Michael asked, “And he has no grace in him?” 

“He does not,” Gabriel said trying to keep his nerves out of his voice. This was the moment that could make or break everything. 

“Then he has nothing to fear from heaven. From this point on, he will have our protection just as the rest of your family will. They are, after all, our family too.”


	4. Chapter 4

“And what do you want in return?” Gabriel asked suspiciously. 

“In return for not attacking my brother’s family?” Michael asked incredulously. He couldn’t believe how low he apparently was in his brother’s esteem currently. 

“Yes, Michael. What do you want? You can’t honestly expect me to believe that after all this time you suddenly saw the error of your ways. That you never had any idea what heaven was like. You’re after something, so just tell me what it is and we can get on with this. You should already know there is little I wouldn’t give for the safety of my family.”

Michael sighed sadly. It seemed that Gabriel really was that cynical, and Michael wished that he could blame him, but he knew that it was all his fault. “Regardless of what you believe, that is the truth. If it will make you feel better for me to ask something in return though, I will. I wish to be a part of your life, Gabriel. I wish to see you regularly and meet your family. I will not ask you to return to heaven, though you will always be welcome if you want to return. I will come to earth, or whatever dimension you wish to see you.”

Gabriel narrowed his eyes suspiciously. That was all Michael was asking? Could he really be telling the truth? It hardly mattered right now. By him asking something in return, no matter how small, it made a deal and as long as he kept up his end of the bargain, Michael would be honor bound to keep up his own and that was all that was important at the moment. His family would be safe and if Michael really did want to make amends and change things, then time would tell. “You will not have access to the dimension where we live. I will create a new dimension each time and allow you access once a week for at least twelve hours. You will not meet the young children until I am sure they will be in no danger from you, and if anything happens to any of my family it will be war,” Gabriel laid out his own terms. 

“Agreed,” Michael said quickly before Gabriel changed his mind. It was less than he hoped, but more than he supposed he deserved if he looked at things objectively. 

“Give me a few days to prepare them and I can’t promise any level of behavior. The only thing I will promise is that there will be no violence from our side. Their attitudes are their own.”

“I understand, Gabriel. Thank you,” Michael said solemnly. He supposed there was still a great deal they could blame him for and despite the fact that he knew nothing about it, his negligence made it possible so he was still responsible for it in the long run. All he could do now is try to make it up to them. 

That settled Gabriel headed back to Helheim to meet up with the others and take them home. It would be annoying creating new dimensions every week, but as long as nothing major happened to drain his powers it was doable. He would need to wait until either this deal with Michael was over or his brother had earned his trust enough to be granted entrance into their home before getting pregnant again though. Not that he had plans to do so anytime soon. Given the time it took for pagan children to age and the amount of attention needed as they come into their powers, it was rare to have a second before the first was grown. Or the first set that is when dealing with twins as often ran in Loki’s family. Still, given the current situation, expecting to trust Michael enough to let him into their home even in thirty years might be pushing it.

Upon relating the story of what happened with Michael to the rest of the family…the adults anyway…he could have predicted the reactions with startling accuracy. Fenrir was thoughtful, Hela was hopeful, Sam was wary, and Dean was indignant. The kids were thankfully still in the dark, aside from the little Hati and Skoll knew, but they assumed that since Loki was back and they were back home that everything was settled and didn’t ask any more questions. Sam waited until they had put Karame to bed and were alone in their room before questioning Loki more. “Do you believe him?” he asked. 

“I don’t know,” Loki said wearily. He could tell by the look on Sam’s face that the hunter wanted more than that. “I’ve spent so long blaming him for driving me away all those millennia ago and then with what happened with Skoll and then Jormy. Now to find out that I may have been wrong all that time…it’s not an easy thing to have to consider.”

Sam had spent quite a bit of time thinking about Loki’s exit from heaven and everything he knew about how it happened and had come to a few conclusions of his own. He had been undecided on whether he should ever air his thoughts, but if there was a chance at reconciliation here, he owed it to Loki to push him outside of his comfort zone. Loki deserved to have some part of his life back if he could get it. “I was thinking about what you said about how everything in heaven went sideways, and I think you should try to look at things from Michael’s point of view. Now, I’m not saying that he was right. Not at all. Nor am I saying that you were wrong in how you reacted. It’s just…you said that you were all lost and confused. You lost your center, your reason for being. But Michael, in addition to that, was pushed into a leadership role that he had no idea what to do with. I can see how that would make someone lash out at anyone close to them.”

When Sam put it like that it was rather difficult to hold onto that old grudge. Really, between Michael and Raphael, Michael was easy to deal with. He was just words. Raphael was the one who lashed out physically, and it was possible that Michael never even knew that. He wasn’t exactly attentive back then. Of course, if he was to be believed, he hadn’t exactly been attentive since then either. Still, “Jormy?”  
“I think that, assuming he’s telling the truth, while Michael does hold some blame for that due to not paying attention, we should leave the bulk of the blame where it belongs. With Raphael. Just like we agreed to let go of any blame between us, we should extend the same courtesy to Michael. He is, at least, trying to make amends and fix things, and his mistakes were more along the lines of trusting the wrong person rather than out of any malicious act.”

Loki sighed heavily, leaning his head on Sam’s shoulder. “If only it were that easy.”

“I know, Lo,” Sam said softly pressing a kiss to his lover’s head. “It’s never easy, but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth working for.”

“How did you get so wise?” Loki asked lifting his head for a kiss. 

“Guess it rubbed off from you,” Sam said with a grin after kissing his husband. 

“Oh ouch,” he said theatrically holding his chest. “You wound me Samsquatch. Calling me wise? The horror!” Sam erupted in a fit of giggles as he shoved the drama queen away so that he sprawled on the bed. “And so abusive too,” Loki added with a grin of his own as Sam doubled over laughing so hard. This was just what he needed.


	5. Chapter 5

Loki took all of the few days he had asked for to sound out the rest of the family and make sure he had all of their opinions noted. It wouldn’t be too much trouble for them to visit Helheim for a day once a week. They often ended up doing that anyway, so this would just be more scheduled. He was still very wary of Michael and thus, for the first visit at least, only planned to take Fenrir and Hela. 

“I thought I would be going to meet him too,” Sam said confused and a little defensive. He felt like he was being shut out and didn’t like it very much. 

“You will. Next time. Assuming all goes well this time. This will be my first time meeting him outside of the garden. If it comes to a fight I would rather not have to worry about protecting you. I’m taking the ones that could hold their own in that fight. It’s just a precaution, Samshine. Please just let me be careful for now?” Loki tried to placate his lover. 

Sam didn’t really like being sidelined any more than he liked the idea of Loki going into a fight without him, but he had seen the others fight enough to know that he would be no more than a liability against an archangel. It stung, but he had to accept it. This time. “Next time then,” he said firmly, letting Loki know that he would hold him to that. 

“Thank you,” Loki said grateful that there wouldn’t be an argument before pulling Sam into a deep kiss. They dropped Sam, Dean and all five kids off at Helheim and got them settled before Loki made another dimension with no more than a comfortable living room for their conversation and then sent a beacon up to Michael. 

When Michael arrived, he found the three of them in a defensive stance. Their weapons weren’t out, but he could see the blades peeking out of their sleeves ready to come out at a moment’s notice. The other two seemed to be flanking Gabriel protectively, even as his brother relaxed seeing that he hadn’t come armed. 

Gabriel took a seat on the plush couch and stretched out, giving the impression that he hadn’t a care in the world. There was no need to let his brother know how on edge he was about this and Fenrir and Hel were still ready for battle and he knew they could handle him for the two seconds it would take for him to join in even from a relaxed position. 

Michael knew Gabriel better than the littlest archangel thought though. He could see how tense Gabriel was, despite his outward demeanor and decided to try and help as much as he could and took a seat in the armchair across from the couch. At that, the other two relaxed a bit, but still didn’t sit. They stood behind the couch, on either side of Gabriel, each with a hand on his shoulder for support. “I’m glad to see you, Gabriel,” he said softly. 

Gabriel just jumped right into the introductions, not willing to lie by returning the sentiment. “This is my son Fenrir and my daughter Hela.”

“You didn’t bring your bonded?” Michael asked curiously. 

“Not this time,” Gabriel said shortly. 

Michael just nodded sadly. He knew why, of course, but he had hoped that he wouldn’t have to start so low on the trust scale. “I understand.”

“I don’t think you do,” Fenrir said scathingly. 

“Fenny…”

“No, dad. We need to get this out of the way before this goes any farther. He needs to know exactly what happened and what it caused. Especially if he’s ever going to meet Hati and Skoll,” Fenrir said firmly. Gabriel sighed and nodded. He would prefer not to inflame any tempers, but it was Fenrir’s right to take Michael to task over the damage to his sons, not that he thought that the wolf god would stop there. 

Seeing his father’s grudging acceptance, Fenrir turned back to Michael. “A group of your agents came into my home and kidnapped one of my sons. He terrorized and even tortured him, and since my sons are linked twins, they both experienced it. When we tracked them down, we let your people live, only giving out the wounds received to the one who inflicted them, despite the fact that he was a grown angel rather than a scared little boy. My sons had nightmares for months after that. It was almost a year before they would even sleep without me in the room with them. They hadn’t even recovered from that before they had to watch their ‘Isa’ who they love dearly, kidnapped right from under our noses while we all fought a pitched battle in the middle of our living room.”

“I’m…” Michael started to say before he was cut off. 

“I’m not done yet. Then myself, Hela, and…and Jormy went to get Sam back and our brother…their uncle was killed by one of your people. The sight of his body when we returned will always haunt them, not to mention what happened after that. When Dad saw his son brutally murdered by one of his own brothers…the grief took over and he shut down. He almost died, as did our baby brother Karame who he was carrying at the time. Hela and I weren’t able to pump enough power to save them, so my sons had to come and help, draining all of us nearly to the brink. It was a week before Dad was able to even get out of bed again and we could have Jormy’s funeral. We have had to be completely isolated in hiding for ten years to escape your people’s vendetta. This isn’t a case for a simple sorry and we’ll let bygones be bygones.”

Seeing that Fenrir was finished now, Michael took a moment to consider his response. “I know that it will never be enough, but I am sorry. I’m more sorry than I can say. Until now, I didn’t know many of the details you have given. Raphael was never very forthcoming with them and the damage that he caused is something that can never be made up for. I should have been paying more attention. I should have demanded more detailed reports. There are many things I should have done, and I can never undo that, no matter how much I may wish to. I want to thank you for telling me all this. I can better understand Gabriel’s…and your…hostility and skepticism now. I will not ask to let bygones be bygones, but I will ask that you allow me the chance to rebuild some of the trust and family between us. Gabriel is still my brother and you are still my nephew…and niece,” he added with a polite nod to Hela. 

Fenrir narrowed his eyes suspiciously as though trying to read Michael, but Hela had another question in her endless capacity as peacemaker. She understood the need to hash everything out like Fenrir was trying to do, but she did want this to work out regardless. “You said you should have asked for more detailed reports. That means you were getting reports…” she left it open ended. 

“I was. There was nothing in there about any of you though. No signs that Gabriel was alive. No mention of gods or children. It was more along the lines of them having difficulty locating the vessels. The only thing that was specified in those reports was the fact that they were having human followers keeping an eye out for them and working other unspecified leads.”

“And if you had known? Without knowing that Father was involved, I mean. If we were just random gods with no ties to him.”

“I may have authorized interrogation…of adults only, but never torture, and especially never torture of a child. When Gabriel mentioned that his young grandson had been tortured by an angel when he confronted me all those years ago, I investigated the matter. Uriel attempted to defend himself by claiming that he had no idea that they were Gabriel’s family, but it didn’t matter. I made it clear that the torture of any child, no matter who or what they were, was unacceptable under any circumstances. He is now occupying a cell next to Gadreel and will be for the forseeable future.”

“You are punishing him for following Raphael?” Gabriel made his foray into the conversation in his confusion. 

“No. He is being punished for harming the child. His orders were only to kidnap the child, and that blame falls on Raphael. Uriel was, in fact, ordered by his direct superior NOT to harm the child and so not only committed a despicable crime, but disobeyed orders to do so. His punishment is just,” Michael said a bit defensively. Gabriel just nodded. That argument made perfect sense to him. Michael then turned to Fenrir and said, “I would not have blamed you if you had killed him. It may have been a kinder end then the one he now experiences though.”

“Then I’m glad I didn’t,” Fenrir said cruelly. 

“I want you all to know too, that Raphael has escaped punishment for the most part aside from censure and a much shorter leash, simply because he was acting in my stead, no matter how far he pushed his orders, which were simply to make sure the apocalypse stayed on track, but he is being watched carefully, and at the first sign of disobedience, he too will join Uriel and Gadreel in prison. I don’t anticipate him being able to cause problems for any of you, but on the off chance he does, please feel free to pray to me and I will take care of it immediately.”

“You think he will step out of line again?” Gabriel asked curiously. He was trying to get a feel for Michael’s frame of mind here. 

“I think that he was given far too free a reign for far too long, allowing his cruelty to grow unchecked. I hope that he can turn around and learn to live under his new circumstances, but I refuse to allow myself to be blind anymore and I fear that he is too far gone to be brought into check. I cannot turn my back on the possibility until it is proven though.”


	6. Chapter 6

Michael saw the acceptance on Gabriel’s face, and to a lesser extent his children’s of that point of view, so he moved on to something else he was curious about. “I had not realized it was possible to drain our powers so much that it could become dangerous. I hope you and your son have no lasting effects from that.”

Gabriel knew that part of this would involve talking about his life, and he supposed this was something that Michael would be curious about, and might help in the long run, so he might as well spill. “I don’t think it would be possible to drain my grace that much, but while I was pregnant my grace had to be locked away so that it couldn’t touch Karame. I only had my pagan power to draw from and after searching every item in the dimension we were staying in for trackers to see how they found us, transferring a human and four god children to a new dimension and creating said dimension, along with the amount of the power going to the baby, it got pretty close. The grief was just the last straw.”

“I understand. I see now how you kept your grace from passing on. It must be difficult to live so long without access to it though,” Michael said in awe of his little brother. 

“It is and it isn’t. I haven’t considered myself an angel in a long time, Michael. While giving up the extra power boost isn’t exactly fun, I have more than enough for most everything without it. I do still feel rather weak without access to my grace, but as a connection to heaven…That’s something I lost a long time ago. Not having access to my grace doesn’t change that.”

Gabriel’s words felt like any icy lance to Michael’s heart. To think that his baby brother had hurt so much for so long that he barely seemed to notice anymore was just one more failure to put on his shoulders and he couldn’t help the tears that filled his eyes. “If I could take it all back, Gabriel, I would. I can’t imagine…You’re stronger than I could ever be,” he finished as he turned away, trying to get himself under control. 

“I just do what I need to do,” Gabriel brushed off Michael’s concern. 

“I’m glad you’ve been able to make a family and find some happiness again, baby brother, and I look forward to someday being a part of that,” Michael said sincerely. “I would love to hear more about your family.”

Gabriel narrowed his eyes suspiciously at Michael, but the expression disappeared as quickly as it appeared. He wasn’t going to risk telling heaven’s leader anything incriminating. Not yet. But there were plenty of anecdotes that he could share that wouldn’t give him too much information, and if he was sincere about wanting to know Gabriel then they would satisfy him anyway, so he launched into a series of stories about raising his children, most of them funny, helped along my Fenrir and Hela. Everyone present noticed that stories about Jormy didn’t come up. It was still too sore of a subject when dealing with Michael, but the rest were fair game. 

Michael responded appropriately to all of the stories, mostly with laughter, and didn’t ask any questions about things that Gabriel might have considered sensitive and over the course of the day all three of the gods relaxed a little more, seeing that the stories he was getting seemed to be exactly what Michael wanted. By the end of the day, both archangels felt that they had made great strides in their relationship and the idea of trusting Michael didn’t seem nearly as farfetched to Gabriel as it had yesterday. He would have no problem bringing Sam along next time. Probably with Fenrir too, just in case, but it was much better than it was. He didn’t think that dangling his own vessel in front of him too soon was the best idea though, not that Dean was chomping at the bit to come anyway. 

Once they had returned home and got all the kids to bed, Sam pulled Gabriel to their bedroom, knowing that he would need to unload after spending the day with Michael, and he was right. Gabriel’s bright cheerful demeanor seemed to sag the second the door closed behind them and Sam pulled his husband into his arms and led them over to sit on the bed. Gabriel just soaked up the comfort for a good long while, and Sam didn’t pressure him to speak. He knew that Gabriel would talk when he was ready. He was just glad that the archangel had learned to lean on him over the years rather than keep it all bottled up. 

“I think…I think he really does just want me back in his life,” Gabriel finally said guiltily. “What does it say about me that I was always so ready to believe the worst?” 

“After everything that happened? That you were ready and willing to protect your family from a potential threat. The fact that he doesn’t seem to be a threat doesn’t matter. It wasn’t a chance you could take, or should have taken. You did the right thing, Lo,” Sam assured him. 

“What if I had reached out sooner? Maybe we wouldn’t even be in this situation now. There was so much I could have done…”

“Coulda, shoulda, woulda,” Sam interrupted him. “We can look back over every decision we’ve ever made and agonize about them for eternity, but at the end of the day, all we can do is the best we can with the information we have at the time. Hindsight is 20/20 for a reason. You did what you thought was best. It wasn’t your fault you didn’t have all the information.”

“But I should have looked for it. I should have tried.”

“And if Michael was a part of it, you would have led him right to us all. You would have tipped your hand and given him everything he needed to destroy us. Even if you were careful, all it would have taken is one off-hand comment that could have given him a clue to work from. You’re not all knowing Lo, no matter how much you may pretend to be and wish you were. You are an amazing husband, father, and grandfather. You will learn how to be a brother again. It will take time and effort, but it will be worth it in the end.”

“Is it selfish to want more? Is it selfish to hope that maybe…”

“No, Lo. It’s not selfish at all. You should be able to have it all. We all should. No matter how skeptical the rest of us may be. No matter how much baggage we have to get past with all of this, you have to know that we all believe that whole-heartedly. We are all behind you a hundred percent. We want you to have everything you could ever want, and that includes however much of your old life…your old family you can get back.”

Loki took a deep breath to center himself. “I’m still scared, Sam,” he told the only person in existence he would ever admit such a thing to. “What if all this is just an act to get close to you? What if I’m wrong again? Or was right the first time or whatever.”

“Then we handle it. We’ll take Fenrir when we go to meet him next time and between the two of you, you can get us out of there. And we will still back your play. None of us will think any less of you for trying to make amends with your brother, no matter the outcome, and I won’t let you think any less of yourself for it either.”

“You’re talking a lot for the others too,” Loki observed. 

“Well we do talk to each other you know,” Sam joked. 

Loki couldn’t help the smile that pulled at the corners of his mouth. “So you’ve all been conspiring behind my back then?” he teased. 

“Oh of course,” Sam played along. “Don’t you know we always do that. Why the things we have planned…” That was as far as he got before Loki tackled him on the bed tickling him mercilessly until they were both breathless with laughter. 

“Thanks, Samshine. Falling in love with you was the best decision I ever made,” Loki said happily. 

“Right back atcha, angel,” Sam said pulling his husband in for a loving kiss.


	7. Chapter 7

Sam and Loki shouldn’t have been surprised when Karame came and climbed into bed with them later, but they were. He had never been a whole day with one of his parents gone and it seemed to have thrown him for a loop. As he curled up to Loki’s side and stuck his thumb in his mouth, falling back asleep, Sam explained what had happened while he was away. Loki was still lying down, so as not to disturb the sleeping child, so Sam propped up on an elbow next to him, running a hand through their son’s hair. “He was pretty confused when you were gone today. I told him you went to see your brother and he just kept asking why we couldn’t go.”

“Hmm. I never figured him for abandonment issues,” Loki said concerned. 

“I don’t think it was so much a fear of abandonment as just wanting to know what was going on. He didn’t seem upset at all. Then again, he is in here, so I could be wrong,” Sam deduced with a frown. 

“Not necessarily. Maybe he just missed me. He hasn’t ever been away from either of us since he was born after all. This is gonna be an adjustment for him, but I can’t let Michael see him yet. Not until I’m more sure of his intentions,” Loki said sadly. He hated causing his baby any distress. 

“I completely agree. We definitely need a little more good behavior from him before we let him meet any of the kids.”

“Next week we’re both gonna be away though,” Loki pointed out. 

“I know, but it’s better if he get over his dependence sooner rather than later. If everything works out, we’ll be out of hiding after all and back to normal lives, which means we won’t be around each other every second of every day. He’ll be fine. It’ll just take some getting used to.”

“I don’t know about us coming out of hiding. As long as Raphael is still out there, I don’t think we should,” Loki told him. 

“I can understand that, but we can’t stay here forever. If Raphael behaves for a while, I think we could chance it. You said Michael told us to pray to him if he causes us any trouble, so we will have backup if we need it. And that’s if he doesn’t cross a line before then. I would kinda like to get back to the real world while there’s a chance that some of our family might still be alive. It would be nice to see Bobby again and introduce him to the kids. And Ellen and Jo. And Rufus.”

“Why don’t we just table this discussion at least until we’re comfortable with Michael around the kids. We can’t do anything until then anyway. And like you said. Maybe Raphael will be a non-issue by then anyway,” Loki said trying to avoid an argument. He could see Sam’s point. He really could. That didn’t mean he agreed. 

Sam knew a stalling tactic when he heard one, but his husband was right. There was no reason to argue about it now and the situation might just resolve itself without an argument anyway. 

“He sure is out like a light,” Loki said, fondly pressing a kiss to the toddler’s brow. 

“He had a busy day,” Sam told him. “The kids ran all over the castle today. They wanted to go play in the forest, but I told them they could only go out there with Hela or Fenrir.”

“Good thinking. I’m glad they had fun. It makes me feel better at shuffling them off there every week.” While they always did visit Helheim fairly often, it wasn’t often for a whole day and the kids seldom had free reign to run and play. They were usually kept in a fairly small area while the adults chatted or handled business. Loki pulled Sam down for a kiss before the hunter settled next to his husband, their son sandwiched between them, and they all drifted off to sleep. 

The next day, Karame did stay close to Loki, but didn’t seem overly bothered by the fact that he had left, so they both figured that it was just that he missed him, rather than any lingering abandonment issues. They would see for sure next week though, when both of his fathers were gone for the day. Hati and Skoll were old enough to not need their dad so much, not to mention they remembered when they were kids and he would be gone for days at a time and they would stay with other family. Narfi and Nari were rather used to Hela going back and forth, though they couldn’t remember ever being without Dean, who had of course become dad. They were still trying to decide when and if to tell them he wasn’t their biological father. Karame though had never been without either of his dads, so it wasn’t surprising that he was a little more clingy than usual. 

The week passed very quickly and before they knew it, it was time to meet Michael again. Once again they bundled everyone off to Helheim for the day and Sam, Loki and Fenrir went to a new Loki created dimension and called Michael down. They were just as tense as they were the last time, the slight increase in trust balanced by the fact that they had a defenseless human with them this time. 

Michael wanted so badly to give his baby brother a hug, but he knew that Gabriel wouldn’t react too well to that just yet and he definitely noticed that both Gabriel and Fenrir always had at least one hand on Sam, presumably to disappear with him if needed. He was the first to sit, prompting Gabriel and Sam to sit as well, though Fenrir kept his position standing behind the couch. If it went like last time he would only sit about halfway through the day. “Thank you for coming, Gabriel. Nice to see you again Fenrir. You must be Sam,” he greeted them. Sam just nodded rigidly. He could feel the tension in the room and it was getting to him a bit. “I have already passed my apologies on to Gabriel and Fenrir and Hela, despite the fact that apologies are inadequate and I would like to now do so to you as well. I am sincerely sorry for all of the trauma you have experienced at the hands of angels.”

“Thank you,” Sam said with a more polite nod. He hadn’t expected that. Loki had passed on the apologies and he had assumed that would be it. 

Michael then turned to Gabriel. “Many of the seraphs have come to me asking me to pass on their well wishes to you and your family.”

“They know?” Gabriel asked annoyed. He had wanted to keep all this a secret as long as possible. 

“They knew you were alive from my broadcasts to you over the last eight years, and assumed you had responded when I stopped. I told them that we are on speaking terms now, and are attempting to repair our relationship, but have given no details.”

Gabriel sighed. He supposed that Michael had to tell them something if they deduced that much. “Anyone of note?” he asked curiously. 

“Balthazar in particular was rather anxious to see you again. I told him that I would pass on his request, but it would be up to you. It may interest you to know that he was never a part of the garrisons involved in any of this mess. In fact, he was suspended from duty when he, I believe the term is, ‘told them where to shove it’ when they asked him to kidnap one of the children.” Michael knew that Balthazar was always the closest seraph to Gabriel, thinking of the archangel as a mentor, and he hoped that he could at least give Gabriel one of his brothers back in the meantime. 

Gabriel chuckled slightly. He may have laughed outright had the subject not been so grim. Just hearing Michael say ‘told them where to shove it’ was good for a chuckle. He did miss Balthazar. “Maybe I’ll look him up sometime when things are a little more settled.”

“May I tell him so?” Michael asked hopefully. Truth be told the seraph was starting to get on his nerves on the subject. 

“Sure,” Gabriel said with a shrug. 

“Thank you, brother,” Michael said with a sigh of relief. 

That time Gabriel did laugh. “Driving you nuts is he?”

“You have no idea.” Gabriel just laughed harder as the tension left the room and they settled into easy conversation for the remainder of the day.


	8. Chapter 8

Karame did get used to his dads being away for a day every week, since Sam always went with Gabriel now. Sometimes Fenrir or Hela went with them, but Michael still hadn’t met Dean and hadn’t asked to. He seemed to know it wouldn’t be taken well. Dean was part of his brother’s family, but he was new enough that it was only a small reason why he wanted to meet him. It was mostly curiosity. Despite the fact the Dean was bonded with a god and couldn’t be a vessel anymore, he was still Michael’s true vessel and the archangel was curious. 

They had been meeting for almost three months before Sam brought up the idea of Michael meeting the kids. Loki was a little taken aback at the request. “Are you sure you’re not just pushing things because you want to come out of hiding sooner?” he asked skeptically. 

“I was concerned about that being a subconscious reason, so I sounded out Fenrir and Hela to get their opinions. They agree with me. It’s good to be cautious, but we have to extend some level of trust sometime.”

Loki took a moment to think about it. Hearing that Fenrir and Hela agreed was enough to calm his fears of Sam pushing things too fast and he thought more about his own state of mind. Maybe he was trying too hard to hold onto old grudges. Maybe his history was making him blind to the idea of Michael sincerely looking for repentance. “Okay, but not all at once. We’ll take Hati and Skoll first with both Fenrir and Hela. They at least have some training in self defense at this point.” 

“That’s a good idea,” Sam said with a nod. “Not only is it safer, but meeting them in smaller groups is good anyway. Less confusion and gives him a chance to actually know them rather than just have chaos abounding when they are all together.”

“Okay, so tomorrow we’ll take Hati and Skoll along with Fenrir and Hela. You think Dean will be okay with all three of the little ones by himself for the day?” Loki asked worriedly. 

“They’ll be in the castle. He’ll have plenty of help,” Sam assured him. Loki tended to only see family as babysitters despite the fact that there was a whole castle full of staff who loved the kids dearly. The laughter of living children was something that brightened up the normally dreary Helheim greatly. Not to mention the relief of boredom. 

Michael was surprised to see the two children half hiding behind Fenrir and Loki when he arrived the next day, and was rather overcome with emotion at the sight. It seemed that he was making some strides in his relationship with his brother after all. He had been afraid they hadn’t been getting anywhere. He crouched down to be eye level with the boys, still keeping his distance though, and said, “Hello there. I’m your Uncle Michael,” in a soft soothing voice. When they shrunk back away from him he felt his heart break again. “I swear to you, you have nothing to fear from me. I would never harm you.”

“Other angels did,” Skoll said skeptically. 

“And I punished them for it. They should never have taken you or hurt you and if I had known what they were going to do I would have stopped them,” Michael assured them. 

Both boys looked to their dad and grandpa for reassurance and when they got nods from both of them, they hesitantly stepped out, still staying back, but making themselves fully visible. “I’m Skoll. This is Hati,” Skoll introduced them, being the more outgoing of the twins. 

“It’s wonderful to meet you both,” Michael said happily. 

“Can we call you, Uncle Mikey?” Hati asked in almost a whisper and Gabriel couldn’t help the twitch of his lips at that. 

Michael grinned. He normally hated the nickname Mikey with a passion, but it was what Gabriel always used to call him and his brother wasn’t comfortable enough with him to call him that anymore so hearing it from his grandkids would be the next best thing. “I would love for you to call me Uncle Mikey.”

That seemed to be the switch for the kids because they bounded forward and sat on the floor in front of the couch leaving the couch for the adults. “Do you know how to play raske lys?” Skoll asked. 

“I don’t, but maybe you could teach me?” Michael said, keeping one eye on the adults to see how they reacted to his interaction with the children. He didn’t want to overstep any boundaries. 

Gabriel snapped up a three way game board and the twins set to teaching Michael how to play under the watchful eye of the adults. Michael, of course, turned out to be just as good at the game as the gods, but he still let the kids win most of the time, seeing the slight smile on Gabriel’s face every time he did. After a couple hours, the boys wanted to move on to a different game. “Do you know how to play Monopoly?” Michael shook his head. “Clue?” another shake of the head. “Life? Chutes and ladders? Candyland?” Getting a shake of the head every time from a more and more amused Michael, so they moved on to physical games. “Hide and seek? Tag? Basketball? Baseball? Soccer?” When Michael replied in the negative to all of them Skoll sighed and asked, “Do you know how to play ANY games?”

“Sorry,” Michael shrugged a little sheepishly. “I’ve never had reason to play any games, but I can learn.”

“Why don’t we go get you boys some lunch before we start teaching Uncle Mikey to play more games?” Gabriel said with a chuckle coming to his brother’s rescue. When Fenrir took the boys into the kitchen, Gabriel turned back to Michael. “You’re good with them,” he said curiously. Michael had never had occasion to be around children as far as he knew. 

“I had hoped to one day meet the children in your family, so I started to observe the humans and how they interacted with their children. I am glad that I was able to emulate it properly,” Michael explained. 

“Just as long as you don’t emulate some of them,” Gabriel said darkly, but for one the dark tone wasn’t directed at Michael.

“Yes, I had noticed that many humans are unnecessarily cruel to their offspring. I was…taken aback at that.”

“Yeah. It’s disgusting. But most are pretty good. You get bad eggs in every batch,” Gabriel said glad that his brother had noticed the difference. There were good points to taking a lead from the humans, as long as he was able to recognize the areas where he shouldn’t. 

“Thank you for allowing me to meet them, Gabriel. They are wonderful.”

Gabriel beamed at that. There wasn’t much that could melt his icy exterior faster than praising his grandkids. “They seem to like you too, despite your horrifying lack of knowing how to ‘play’,” he joked. 

Michael laughed. “I suspect they will help me remedy that deficit.”

“Oh I’m sure they will,” Gabriel laughed with him. 

Sam and Hela were just grinning, trying to stay out of it. It seemed that they were making progress and neither of them wanted to interfere. They had both already made their peace with Michael. It was Gabriel’s turn now. Once the boys returned from having lunch, they dragooned everyone into a big game of Monopoly where they played as a team as usual. Partially because being able to read each other’s mind made playing against each other pointless and partly because there were only six pieces and five adults. 

The main hilarity of the afternoon was just how bad Michael was at the game. Heaven had no concept of money or economy so he found it very difficult to understand. He still had fun though. He came to the conclusion that these games could be very good for bringing family together as they laughed and teased each other and employed all manner of bribery and emotional manipulation to try and get ahead. He felt closer to his brother and his family in that one afternoon than all of the last three months. He couldn’t really see a bunch of adults sitting around and playing games like that though. The children really were a blessing. 

Before they left, both kids attached themselves to him in a hug and Michael just drank it in, hugging them tightly, feigning obliviousness to Gabriel’s rigid tension at the act. He didn’t push his brother by holding on too long though, but did press a kiss to each of their heads before he let them go, noticing that Gabriel visibly relaxed when he did. He decided that he was going to get no better chance at this and walked over to Gabriel, pulling him into a tight hug as well. It took a moment, but eventually Gabriel’s arms came up and wrapped around his big brother and Michael could feel the tears prickling his eyes as he whispered, “Thank you, Gabriel.” When Michael finally pulled back, he brushed away the few tears that had leaked from his eyes and put his hands on Gabriel’s shoulders, and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I love you, baby brother. Always,” he whispered before he stepped back and Gabriel and his family disappeared without another word. He had expected that.


	9. Chapter 9

When Gabriel brought them right back home rather than a stop-off in Helheim, they knew that he was out of it. Sam glanced over to Fenrir and Hela who both nodded and then headed off to pick up Dean and the other kids, taking Hati and Skoll with them. Sam pulled Loki up the stairs to their room, trusting that the others would take care of Karame for the night, and then pulled his husband into a tight hug. Loki didn’t respond at all to the hug, but Sam could feel his tears on his neck and knew that Loki was on the verge of a breakdown, so he just kept rubbing the archangel’s back as the tears flowed faster and faster, until Loki sagged and let out a choking sob as his arms finally wrapped around his husband. Sam’s arms tightened around Loki to keep him on his feet as he led him to the bed. 

When Michael had hugged the kids, Loki had felt an ice cold fear gripping him. It would have been so easy in that moment for him to just disappear with them and Michael was one of only two beings in existence that could successfully hide them from him. The relief he had felt when Michael let go was quickly followed by something he couldn’t even name when Michael had hugged him. He hadn’t been hugged by his brother in millennia and it was more than he could even put words to, there were so many emotions just flooding through him at the time. He had been on autopilot ever since then, and hearing Michael say that he loved him…it was enough to just shut him down. He had never imagined that he would hear those words again from him. He had thought he was over his separation from his family, but now everything was coming back up again and he was so lost. The joy and regret and fear and anger and love were all warring within him and he didn’t know how to find his way out of it. He was so glad in that moment that he had Sam, because he didn’t know where he’d be without the hunter’s strong arms comforting him. Sam didn’t push him to talk, or try to figure out what was going on. He was just there. A silent rock of support in the time that Loki needed him most. 

Loki ended up crying himself to sleep, and Sam just sat silent watch over him until he too fell asleep. He knew his husband well enough to know that by tomorrow this will have all blown over. If Loki wanted to talk, Sam would be there, of course, but he doubted he would. Sam knew that he was just overwhelmed with everything. He was starting to get attached to his brother again and the sudden affection took him off guard. It had to happen sometime and Sam was kinda grateful to Michael for pushing it. Loki would never have taken that first step if it had been left up to him. 

Dean insisted on being there the next week when Narfi and Nari met Michael, so this time it was Sam who stayed back with the kids, Loki still wanting both Hela and Fenrir there for protection if necessary. Loki was still more than a little nervous about Michael meeting Karame with the fact that he could hear the angels. He knew he couldn’t put it off forever, but he wanted to save his baby for last at least. It took Michael a bit to adjust to the younger kids after being used to the near teenagers in Hati and Skoll, but after that the day went much like it had last time. Loki was more tense this time too since the six year olds weren’t much for sitting and playing games all day like Hati and Skoll had been and had enticed Michael to run around with them and play tag. He’d had to snap up a yard in this dimension and seeing Michael chasing his grandchildren, even in fun, was a little nervewracking. He could tell that Dean felt the same, but was glad that the hunter trusted him enough to intervene if needed. 

They did still get a great deal of amusement from the fact that Narfi and Nari were using their powers to teleport away when Michael got too close, giggling the whole time, but Michael apparently wanted to keep things fair, either that or didn’t want to alarm Gabriel and Dean too much, and so didn’t fly around after them. They did manage to settle them down with some board games after lunch though, this time playing candyland since they were still a little too young for monopoly. Michael managed to grasp that game a little better than monopoly anyway, though he still lost the first few times as he got the hang of it. 

Michael managed to not bring up the vessel issue with Dean, but his curiosity about the hunter was evident, and Gabriel explained why later much to Dean’s consternation. It was rare for a true vessel to be born at all, much less getting to meet that vessel without trying to take it over. Some curiosity was expected. Dean had just huffed at that. As they left, Michael once again pulled Gabriel into a hug after the kids, only to be surprised when Fenrir and then Hela hugged him too. They left a beaming archangel behind as they headed to Helheim to pick up Sam and the other kids. 

The next week, Dean was once again left behind alone, but he had Hati and Skoll to help out this time, as Sam and Gabriel took Karame along with Fenrir and Hela to meet Michael. This time though, Karame was still in Gabriel’s arms as Michael arrived. He wasn’t going to put him down just yet. Michael arrived with a smile, and started to reach out to brush Karame’s hair from his face so he could get a look at him, but Gabriel just took a step back, so Michael did the same and sat down. 

Michael understood then that this one would be more difficult. This was the child Gabriel had been worried about being hunted because of his connection to the angels, and perhaps because of the rule-breaking of the seraph that he was reborn from. Not only that, but this is the child that was almost lost when Raphael’s people attacked, and was named in honor of his fallen uncle. He would try to set Gabriel at ease though. “I can sense his connection to heaven, but I can see that he has no grace. There is no need to fear for his safety,” he assured him. 

Gabriel nodded and sat, settling Karame in his lap as the child turned to look at Michael. “This is Karame. My youngest son.”

“Hello Karame,” Michael said gently. “I’m your Uncle Mikey.”

“You talk in my head sometimes,” Karame said tilting his head as he recognized the voice.

“That’s right,” Michael said with a smile. “Your papa is my brother, and you can hear me because…” he paused as Gabriel shot him a look and changed track, “of that.”

“The others can’t hear you,” Karame said curiously. 

“That’s because you’re special,” Gabriel said quickly, wanting to end this line of conversation before any secrets were spilled. 

Michael gave Gabriel an apologetic look and changed the subject to the first thing he could think of. “So I understand you can become a panther?” He had seen all the other children change into their forms too and they always seemed happy to have someone new to show off to so it seemed like a good way to get his mind off the voices in his head. 

“Yeah! Wanna see?” Karame asked excitedly. “Can I papa?” he asked hopefully. 

Gabriel sighed and nodded, letting the boy climb off his lap before transforming into a panther kitten. He ran all around the room, climbing over the furniture and it wasn’t until he started climbing the curtains that Gabriel ran over and pulled him down with a chuckle. Michael had been laughing heartily at his antics the whole time and only laughed harder when the kitten whined at being pulled off the curtains before settling into Gabriel’s arms purring as he was pet. He only stayed there for a few minutes before he changed back and looked at Michael for some sort of reaction. “That was wonderful. You are a beautiful kitten,” the archangel didn’t disappoint. 

Karame beamed and once again climbed down off his father’s lap. Karame was much more thoughtful and sedate than Narfi and Nari…unless he was with them of course, and he surprised all of them by asking Michael all sorts of questions about heaven and what he did as the leader of heaven. Michael, of course, looked to Gabriel after each question to see if he should answer, and ended up answering most of them after a nod from his baby brother. It seemed the only real secret he wanted to keep was that of Karame’s origins, which Michael could understand. It was a lot to put on anyone, especially such a young child. 

Hela was the one to take Karame into the other room for lunch and Michael took the opportunity to address something rather sensitive with Gabriel. “I’m not sure if you are aware, but I learned that the seraph he was reborn from was Castiel.” 

“I suspected as much, but wasn’t certain,” Gabriel said narrowing his eyes suspiciously, wondering where this was going. 

“He was the only angel that has fallen in the last twenty years. I searched out his grace and am keeping it safe should it ever be needed or wanted in the future. I just thought you should know.”


	10. Chapter 10

Gabriel was torn here. He wouldn’t want to take any options away from his children once they were grown and could make their own choices, but on the other hand the very idea of Karame becoming an angel again and regaining the memories of his previous life was terrifying to him. There was also the rules aspect. “You would allow that?” he asked skeptically. 

“It would be no different than an angel reborn as a human regaining their grace. You are proof that pagan powers and angelic grace can coexist. Should he ever take that option, he would fall under the laws of heaven, but obvious exceptions would be made due to his status. Should it ever come up, the details could be worked out then, of course, but I wanted to make sure you knew that it was an option.”

“I don’t like it,” he said bluntly. 

“I understand. But if you ever change your mind…”

“It’s not my mind that needs to be changed. Should that ever come up, it will be Karame’s decision and his alone. And he will know nothing about his previous life at least until he is grown,” Gabriel said warningly. 

“I will say no more on the matter,” Michael said with a deferent nod. He could see that his little brother was getting riled up at the whole idea and there was nothing more to say anyway. He just wanted to make sure that Gabriel knew that his family would be accepted in any form and that the grace he was connected to was found and safe.

“Thank you Michael,” Sam said when Gabriel didn’t respond. 

“May I ask some questions about his abilities though?” he asked hopefully. There was much he was curious about. Gabriel nodded, but gave him a warning look so he understood that any questions shouldn’t stray into secret territory. “I understand that you were able to turn off ‘the voices’ as he calls them. Can he not do the same?” Michael had noticed how he often got distracted by them that morning. 

“It’s not something I can do for him. He would have to do it himself and it took me nearly a thousand years to learn to do so and his mind isn’t nearly organized enough yet to even begin to try it. I don’t even know if it will work the same way for him as it did for me,” Gabriel told him. 

“I see. I have never made the attempt myself, but I can imagine that it would be difficult. I apologize that there is no way for me to make sure that he hears nothing inappropriate for his age,” Michael said. He had been hoping there was an easy way around that problem now that he could see just how much the boy could hear. When Gabriel had mentioned it, he had hoped that he could only hear the loud announcements, but judging by his reactions that morning he seemed to hear everything. It had to be unsettling for a child, not to mention his parents. 

“Has he told you much about the changes in heaven?” Michael asked curiously. 

“We haven’t asked. We have no intention of drawing him into the affairs of adults any more than he has to be,” Gabriel said shortly. 

Michael nodded. “That is understandable. I was simply curious as to how much information he offers.”

“He doesn’t,” Sam jumped in before Gabriel could get more defensive. He understood why Gabriel was jumping to the conclusion that Michael wanted to use Karame to pass information and prove his claims, but he could see that it was unfounded. “We didn’t even know what he was hearing until we asked. He doesn’t talk about it. He’s always been able to hear it, so it doesn’t register as anything but normal to him.”

“I see. I apologize for making you uncomfortable. This is a curious phenomenon and I just wanted to understand,” he told Gabriel. Gabriel gave a curt nod and the room descended into an uncomfortable silence until Karame returned a few minutes later. 

He nearly gave Gabriel a heart attack when he walked over to Michael and climbed in his lap. A steadying hand from both Fenrir and Sam, stopped him from doing anything though and Karame looked up at his uncle and asked, “Tell me a story?” 

“Of course, I will. How would you like to hear about your papa learning to fly?” he asked with a grin and Gabriel groaned good-naturedly. Michael knew from previous conversations that all the kids knew about Gabriel’s angelic heritage so he wasn’t spilling any secrets, and this was a very funny story that Karame would get a kick out of. 

Michael of course played it up as Gabriel sat there rolling his eyes at certain points and everyone, especially Karame were laughing and Michael ended the story with, “And that, dear Karame, is why you should always listen to your parents or whoever is in charge of you or you might end up laying underneath a tree with a broken wing until someone comes along to rescue you.”

Gabriel just smirked at his big brother and said, “C’mere kitten, and let me tell you the story of Uncle Mikey’s first sword fighting class.” 

It was Michael’s turn to groan at Gabriel’s payback. “I can’t believe you even remember that!” he groused. After that it became a battle between them who could tell the most embarrassing stories about each other’s childhoods. Everyone got plenty of laughs and Karame learned quite a few important lessons in the process about how to avoid such situations. 

When it was time to leave, prying Karame away from his new uncle was not easy. He was very attached, much to Michael’s pleasure. “I really do need to get back to work, kitten,” he said gently having picked up on the toddler’s nickname. 

“Come on, baby. We’ll see Uncle Mikey again soon. I promise,” Gabriel told him causing Michael to beam at him with that promise. He was rather attached to the child too, after all. That promise was the only thing that had him letting go of Michael and he let himself be handed off to Fenrir as Gabriel surprised them all by pulling Michael into a hug that he initiated for once. “Catch you later, Mikey,” he said with a grin as they all disappeared. 

They soon found that soon meant something entirely different to Karame than it did to the adults because they were being hassled about going to see Uncle Mikey again the next day. While all the kids loved him, they should have expected that Karame would get more attached due to the novelty of finally meeting one of the ‘voices in his head’. It was only about four days before Karame had a full out tantrum and disappeared from the middle of their living room. When Loki realized that he couldn’t sense him, so he must be in a warded location, they did their best not to panic. 

Loki shuffled Sam, Dean, and the other kids off to Helheim again to free up all three of the gods to search high and low for the missing toddler. It turned out not to be needed. As soon as they stepped foot on earth, outside of their own wards, Michael appeared in front of him holding the missing baby. “He just appeared in my office. I couldn’t find you to return him until now,” Michael said quickly, trying to head off any accusations. 

Gabriel snatched his son from Michael’s arms and held him tight, burying his face in Karame’s hair as he took a few deep breaths to calm himself. Michael was heartbroken, thinking that his brother blamed him and would surely end their visits now and he tried to keep the pain out of his voice as he said, “I’ll just go then.”

Gabriel reached out a hand and grabbed his arm before he could disappear and after one more deep breath, looked up with relief and gratitude in his eyes and said, “Thank you, Michael.”

Michael let out a tense breath and said with a slight smile, “Of course. I knew that he wasn’t there with your permission and I can’t imagine how worried you must have been.”

“Thank you,” Gabriel said again in barely a whisper as he pressed a kiss to his son’s head. 

Michael took a chance and stepped forward, pressing his own kiss to Gabriel’s head. “I’ll always take care of you and yours baby brother. No matter what.”

“I should…get him back…”

“Of course. I’m sure there are others who are worried about him too. Take care, Gabriel. I’ll see you in a few days?”

“You will. Later, Mikey,” Gabriel said as he disappeared back to Helheim, sending messages to Fenrir and Hela as well. 

Thankfully, Karame seemed to sense that he had gone too far and didn’t make a fuss or say a word during that whole exchange. Once they were back home, Sam and Loki took Karame to his room for a stern talking to. “You must never, ever do that again Karame,” Loki told him sternly. 

“I know,” he said sadly not looking at them. “Unca Mikey said already. You mad at me?” he asked with tears in his eyes. 

“You scared us very much. We thought something bad had happened to you,” Sam told him. 

“I sowwy,” Karame said sniffling. 

“You have to understand that when we say no, that doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want, and you never, ever leave this dimension without one of us with you,” Loki told him. He knew he was probably beating a dead horse now, but he had to make sure he got the point across. He couldn’t go through this again. 

“I won’t. Promise,” Karame said and Loki just pulled him into another hug, joined by Sam as they spent some time cuddling their son, relieved that he was home safe and sound.


	11. Chapter 11

They kept him close for the remainder of the day, not letting him out of their sights and waited until he was tucked into bed before having their own conversation about the incident. “He can get into heaven?” Sam asked fearfully. 

“Apparently. I hadn’t realized that his connection to heaven was that strong or that he was powerful enough to get there yet. I’m just glad he went to Michael instead of one of the other ‘voices’ that he hears.”

“I think we really need to discuss coming out of hiding now. If we hadn’t been here, Michael could have found us and returned him immediately. We could have also contacted him for help in case Karame had gone somewhere else in heaven,” Sam said. 

“You’re right. I know you’re right, but I’m still nervous about it,” Loki told him. 

“How about we go down and have a family discussion about it. They should be part of this decision anyway,” Sam suggested. He hoped that between all of them they could talk him into it. Technically, they could all leave whenever they wanted to, being grown and in charge of their own kids, but they didn’t want to cause him any more worry than they had to so they had stayed even after they were convinced of Michael’s trustworthiness. 

“Okay, yeah. Narfi and Nari are in bed now, and Hati and Skoll are old enough to be a part of this decision, so I guess it’s as good a time as any,” Loki said with a sigh. He already knew he was going to lose this argument and only hoped that he would be able to keep his family safe out there in the real world. No matter how few threats were left, he had gotten complacent being in this safe little bubble all these years and wasn’t quite ready to leave it yet. 

They headed back downstairs and called a family meeting. Once everyone was there, Loki started. “Sam brought up the idea that we should think about coming out of hiding.” He noticed more than one thankful look sent towards Sam and asked what that was about. 

“If you hadn’t said something soon, we would have,” Fenrir said, taking the lead for the rest of the family. “Sam asked us to wait until after Michael met the kids though.”

“And all of you feel this way?” he asked. 

Hela was the next to speak. “It would be nice to get back to our lives.”

“Yeah they only people we even get to talk to outside of this house are the dead at Helheim,” Dean chimed in. 

“Now that the boys are old enough to not need me all the time anymore, it would be nice to be able to get out there and find someone. To put it bluntly, I’m lonely, dad.”

“We all are to some degree,” Sam added. 

“I love all my cousins, but I miss having friends our own age,” Skoll said. 

Loki closed his eyes against the onslaught of emotions. He hadn’t realized that his own fears had been causing so much anguish for his family. He was trying to protect them from danger, but ended up hurting them anyway. Sam knew what he was thinking and sought to ease some of the guilt. “Up until a few months ago when Michael came back into our lives, you were completely right. It was far too dangerous out there for us. You were even right to make sure he was on the up before letting down our guard. It’s time now though, Lo.”

“You’re right. You’re all right. I should have considered your feelings more. Maybe we could wait a few more days though?” When he saw their questioning gazes, he elaborated. “We will be seeing Michael again in a few days, and I would feel better if he knew ahead of time that we would be coming out so that he could keep an eye out for trouble on his end. I’m still worried about Raphael.”

They all looked around at each other to make sure they had a consensus before Fenrir said, “A few more days is no problem. But you know, dad, even if Raphael would dare cross Michael, he is only one rogue agent. I get that he’s one of the only beings that can match you in a fight, but you still can’t protect us from everything. Besides, if he does make a move, we don’t just have you anymore. We have Michael and the might of heaven behind us too.”

“I know. Maybe it’s the fault of having too much power, but anyone who can match me will always be seen as too great of a threat for me, but you’re right. We’ll be okay. But maybe…” he stopped himself not sure if he wanted to ask it of them. 

Sam wasn’t so shy though. He knew what his husband wanted. He may have been the one to bring up the conversation, but he would always stand beside his husband, hence Fenrir taking the lead for the rest of the families opinions. He couldn’t say that he didn’t want the same thing though so it was easy to ask. “He’s hoping that we can keep up the same living arrangements out there. At least for a while. We would hate to go back to only seeing you all every few months when you drop by.”

Fenrir didn’t even have to think about it. “That’s fine with me. After all this, I don’t think I could go so long without visiting anyway, but I’m good with making a house with you guys my home base. At least for a while. We can ease back into the whole thing.” Both Hati and Skoll cheered at that. 

After a silent conversation between them, Dean and Hela came to the same conclusion. “We would still be going back and forth to Helheim, like we are now, but we can do the same. I wouldn’t make Dean spend all of his time in Helheim like I was before anyway.”

“Great!” Loki said cheerfully. He may have to leave their little protective bubble, but at least he would be able to keep his family close anyway. 

“You think we could live in Sioux Falls?” Dean asked hopefully. 

“I do still have the house I got there when Dean and I started dating,” Hela offered. “We may need to make a few additions though.”

“Sure thing kiddos. Sioux Falls sounds good.” Like he would deny them anything right now after knowing how bad they’d had it lately. Especially something so simple that didn’t really matter to him at all. 

Loki thought about it over the next few days and decided that he was going to invite Michael to their home this time. Since they were about to come out of hiding it hardly mattered anymore to keep their location secret. When Michael arrived it was to the middle of not so organized chaos. They were all in the solarium and all the kids were in the pool along with Fenrir, Hela, and Dean. Sam and Loki were lounging at the side of the pool. “Welcome to our home,” Gabriel said cheerfully pointing to the remaining pool chair. 

“Thank you for allowing me here,” Michael said cheerfully as he experimented with a new type of chair that he’d never sat in before. He felt rather strange to be half laying and half sitting, but eventually he realized that it was rather comfortable. 

“Well we were planning to come out of hiding tomorrow, so there wasn’t much point in not.”

“You are coming out of hiding?” Michael asked shocked. He knew that they had made great strides, but he hadn’t realized that Gabriel trusted him quite that much. 

“It’s been brought to my attention that my family would like to go back to their lives in the real world. Being here, while peaceful, is rather wearing on them,” Gabriel explained. 

Michael nodded knowingly. He heard what Gabriel wasn’t saying. That he wasn’t completely convinced, but was bowing to the wishes of his family. He vowed to himself then and there to make sure they never regretted it. He would make sure they stayed safe if it was the last thing he did. He couldn’t lose his baby brother again. “Is that…fun?” he asked gesturing to the pool. 

Gabriel grinned widely and Michael suddenly regretted asking that question even before Gabriel said, “You tell me,” reached over and grabbed his arm, flying them both a few feet over the water. Michael didn’t even have a chance to get his bearings and even think about flying away before he was crashing into the water. Sam was laughing uproariously at the side of the pool for a minute before he got up and yelled, “Cannon Ball!” and made a running jump for the water, drenching Michael again just as he surfaced.


	12. Chapter 12

The next day, rather than worry about packing, Loki just snapped his fingers and transferred everything in the house to Hela’s house in Sioux Falls which was now a duplicate of this house. “What do the people around us think about the changes to the house?” Sam asked curiously. 

“As far as they are aware it has been an extended construction job. I built it into the wards that anyone who looks past them has the illusion planted into their mind,” Loki explained. 

“Cool. Now let’s go see Bobby,” Dean told Sam impatiently.

“Umm…wanna give us a lift?” Sam asked hopefully. He wasn’t looking forward to walking all that way. 

Loki chuckled. “Sure thing, Sammykins.” He snapped his fingers and they found themselves in Bobby’s study as the hunter jumped up with a shotgun aimed at them. 

“Sam? Dean?” he asked confused. 

“Sorry about that Bobby. Angel air apparently doesn’t do door service,” Dean joked. 

Bobby narrowed his eyes suspiciously and poured a shot of holy water for each of them before handing over a silver blade. When they both passed the tests, the old hunter dropped the shotgun and pulled them both into hugs. “I didn’t think I’d ever see you boys again,” his voice broke on the words. 

“We didn’t think so either, but everything got worked out,” Sam told him. “It’s a long story.”

Bobby finally let go and stepped back. “You boys haven’t aged a day in the last eleven years,” he observed. 

“Yeah, turns out a binding marriage with gods gets rid of pesky things like aging,” Dean said with a shrug.

“So you’re both…married?” Bobby asked. 

“Yep. With kids too. We’ll bring them by soon,” Sam told him. 

“So you married the goddess chick with the archangel dad and the two older brothers I’m guessing?” Bobby guessed and when he noticed the silence and looks they shared he added, “Uh-oh. What kinda shit did I step in?”

“It’s okay, Bobby. It’s just still a sore subject. It’s only one older brother now. Jormy was killed in a battle with the angels. She has a baby brother now too though because I married the archangel,” Sam explained biting his lip and waiting for the judgement. 

“Gabriel? A male archangel?” Bobby asked curiously. Sam nodded. “How’d the kid work then?”

“He can change his anatomy around as needed,” Sam said tensely. 

“Oh. That’s convenient,” Bobby said and when that was all he said on the subject, Sam relaxed. “So tell me what you’ve been up to and how everything was settled.”

They launched into the long story of the last eleven years of their lives, breaking only for lunch, including the battles they fought, losing Jormy, almost losing Karame, and making amends with Michael. There were a lot of stories told about all of the kids too. They got the update on Bobby’s life too, which was basically more of the same. Hunting, running the hotline, doing research. They found out that Ellen and Jo were still kicking but Rufus had gotten taken out by a vamp nest a couple years ago. He briefed them on the story he told others about where the Winchesters disappeared to which was basically that they stepped into some deep shit and had to go to ground. Ellen and Jo wanted more info, but he wouldn’t tell them. Only saying that he wished he didn’t know. 

When they finally decided to head home later that night, Dean turned to Bobby and asked, “My baby is still good right?” in a tone that said in no uncertain terms that it better be. 

“Course. Been keeping her up for you. She’s better than ever,” Bobby told him with a roll of his eyes. 

“Good. We’ll swing by tomorrow with the families if that’s good with you?” Sam asked. 

“You better,” Bobby said giving them another hug on their way out the door. 

They drove the car back to their new house and found everyone in the living room. “They’re up late,” Sam observed seeing that all the kids were still up. Not unusual for Hati and Skoll, but the little ones were usually in bed by this time. 

“They didn’t want to go to bed without their dads. We decided to indulge them just this once. If you hadn’t gotten home soon though they wouldn’t have had a choice,” Loki explained. 

Sam smiled at the warmth that spread through him at that, but he still wondered, “They’ve gone to bed without us before.”

“Yeah but this is a new place. The house may be the same, but they can feel the difference in this dimension. Plus, we took them for a walk around the neighborhood today after explaining that they couldn’t use their powers outside the house, of course.”

“Oh. I didn’t realize that they would be able to feel the differences in the dimensions,” Sam said with a thoughtful frown. 

“Yeah. This one is more…alive I guess is the best term. Also, the air is less pure, there is more noise outside, the light is different, etc. They can pick up on those things,” Loki told him. 

“Right. I didn’t even notice really,” Sam said sheepishly before he bent down and picked up Karame as Dean did the same for Nari and Hela took Narfi. 

Once they were in bed, Sam told Loki about taking Karame to see Bobby tomorrow and asked if he wanted to come along. Loki, of course, was eager to do so. Not only did he want to stay close to his youngest son, but he hadn’t seen the old man since they tried to stake him back at that college in Ohio. It would be nice to catch up. “We’re not taking that monstrosity of your brother’s over there though. I’ll take us,” he said firmly.

Sam just laughed. “Long as you don’t call it a monstrosity in front of him. Oh and make sure none of the prank wars ever touch the car by the way.” Loki rolled his eyes. Dean could be such a diva about some things. 

Thankfully all the kids slept late the next morning, and it was about midmorning before they descended on Bobby’s house. Sam talked Loki into dropping them at the front door rather than right in front of the skittish hunter. It wasn’t long after they knocked that Bobby opened the door and let them in. “Ok, so introductions,” Sam took the reins as they all tried to keep the kids from running off to explore just yet. The junkyard looked like a huge playground to them. “This is my husband, Loki and our son Karame.”

Dean then took over, “And this is my wife, Hela, and our twins, Narfi and Nari. Kids, this is Uncle Bobby.”

“He’s human,” Karame observed with his head tilted. His Daddy and Uncle Dean were the only humans he’d ever met so Bobby was instantly a novelty to them.

“He is. He’s Daddy and Uncle Dean’s uncle,” Loki explained. 

Karame pulled on his sleeve so Loki bent down and he whispered in his ear, not nearly softly enough for the whole room not to hear, “Does that mean we can’t let him see our powers either?” 

Sam laughed. “No, kitten. He knows about about your powers so you can use them in front of him, but not on him,” he felt the need to explain. He didn’t much think Bobby would appreciate changing colors at the whim of small children which was about all they could do that affected other people at their age. 

“Kitten?” Bobby asked wondering where the nickname came from.

“Can I show him papa? Please?” Karame asked hopefully. 

Loki gave a theatrical sigh. “Go ahead, but no climbing in the house here,” he told him, and at the pleading looks from the other two, he chuckled, “You two go ahead too.”

Bobby started a bit when he suddenly had a panther kitten and two baby hedgehogs in his house. The hedgehogs immediately started rolling around wrestling as the panther kit went over to Bobby and started rubbing against his leg. Bobby instinctively bent down, picked him up, and started petting him as he tried to get over the shock of it all. When Karame started purring, he laughed and shook his head. “Don’t know why I’m surprised.”

“They’re all shapeshifters. Fenny and his two kids are all wolves. We tend to have an animal menagerie at home when they decide to play in their animal forms,” Dean told him. 

“I can imagine. They seem like they’re having fun at least,” Bobby said as Hela had to teleport across the room to grab a lamp that was about to fall as the wrestling hedgehogs bumped the table. 

“Oh yeah. Sometimes the chore is getting them to be human again,” Sam laughed. 

Bobby jumped when instead of a kitten he was suddenly holding a child. “Don’t worry. You’ll get used to that,” Dean told him cheerfully. 

“Uncle Bobby? What are all those things outside and can we play in them?” Karame asked. 

“Those are called cars,” he explained, suddenly having it brought home to him how secluded they were in their other dimension. “And I’m not sure. Some of them have sharp edges on them,” he looked to the parents for assistance. 

“Sharp edges are no problem. They’re a little more durable than other kids. As long as the cars won’t fall on them or anything they’ll be fine,” Hela told him. 

“Then sure you can. The ones that are stacked are all steady so shouldn’t be in danger of falling at all,” Bobby assured them. 

“Okay. Go ahead, but if any of them start rocking and seem like they’re going to fall, teleport away,” Loki said. 

“Okay Papa,” Karame said running for the door, as the other two turned back into children and followed him. The adults followed too at a more sedate pace so they could spend the time outside and keep an eye on the kids as they explored this new world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There should only be a few more chapters of this one that I'll try to finish up tomorrow. On another note then, I've kinda been toying with an idea for a new fic after this one but I'm kinda skeptical about it. It would be a sort of Harry Potter crossover where Gabriel makes Sam and Dean eleven again and sends them to hogwarts with slightly changed classes to teach them to be better hunters. Not sure if I'd have the students all OC or use the Harry Potter characters. What do you guys think? Good idea or crappy idea?


	13. Chapter 13

By the end of the week, they had spent quite a few days at Bobby’s house, trying to make up for lost time. Hati and Skoll had come with a couple times too, so Bobby was more than a little attached to the large strange family. One day the whole gang was sitting around having dinner at Bobby’s house when Karame paused in his food for a minute before asking, “Papa, what’s assinate mean?”

“Assinate? I’m not sure. What’s the context?” Loki asked curiously. 

“They said ‘now that Michael has lured Gabriel’s family out of hiding we can get him out of the way…and…” Karame started and stopped when all the adults’ silverware clanged to their plates. 

“Kids go play outside,” Loki said in a tone that didn’t have a single one of them arguing that they hadn’t finished eating. They just scrambled for the door. 

“I have to go,” Loki said. 

“Hang on Dad. Shouldn’t we talk about this before you get us involved in a heavenly civil war?” Fenrir asked. 

“If Raphael succeeds in killing Michael, heaven will fall to him and we will be hunted again. We’ll have to either go back into hiding or I’ll have to take him out and take control of heaven myself. Either way, it’s better with Michael alive. There’s no time to waste,” he said quickly. He put a hand on Fenrir’s shoulder. “If Sam dies suddenly,” he choked over the words not even wanting to consider the possibility. “If he dies, get everyone to Helheim. It’s the only place you’ll be safe,” he said with tears in his eyes. He had no idea what he would be walking into and if he died then Sam would too so it would be as good as a warning. 

“Take me this time?” Bobby asked. 

Loki looked at him for a second and nodded, glancing to Fenrir to make sure he caught that and would take the old hunter with them before he kissed Sam desperately and disappeared. 

Bobby, knowing that they didn’t have time for questions before, took the opportunity to ask, “Why would Sam die?”

“We’re bound together for eternity. If he dies, then so do I,” Sam said. Bobby nodded, unable to speak for the lump in his throat. He could only hope that it didn’t come to that. 

 

As Gabriel was disappearing he found himself wishing that he had gotten more information from Karame as to what they were planning, if the toddler even had more information. When he arrived though, he realized that he wouldn’t have had time anyway. Michael was standing there, distracted by a seraph, while Raphael was poised behind him, blade ready to strike.

Gabriel threw out a hand knocking Michael to the side as his own blade intercepted Raphael’s. The seraph that had been talking to Michael was apparently one of Raphael’s because his blade came out too, and this time it was Michael’s turn to save Gabriel from being stabbed in the back as he fought Raphael. The seraph may have been good enough to prevent Michael from getting a killing blow, but he was nowhere near good enough to keep Michael distracted from Gabriel’s fight, and when Michael felt Raphael’s grace gathering to fly away, he quickly activated a lockdown. All angels were grounded for the moment. He couldn’t let Raphael get away to try again. 

Just as Michael managed to dispatch the seraph, the door flew open and a whole group of seraphs ran in. The fact that Michael didn’t know who’s side they were on or even if they were here to fight almost had him downed right then and there. He sent out an all call for anyone who was near enough to help and just hoped he’d end up with more of his people than Raphael’s. Thankfully Gabriel was able to spare a moment’s attention to enlarge the office, because Michael was currently attempting to fight off twelve seraphs alone. None of them could have taken him one on one, but there were far too many blades for him to keep track of. He backed himself against the wall, hating the vulnerability of the position, but it kept everyone in sight and kept himself from getting stabbed in the back. He expended most of his energy on stopping the blows that would kill or incapacitate him, and as a result had a great many cuts leaking grace by the time the doors opened again and other seraphs started trickling in and pulling Michael’s attacker’s away. 

Michael was finally free to get in the real fight, and it was a good thing he was. Gabriel wasn’t doing so well. He was nearly as cut up as Michael was, but he was holding Raphael off. Raphael had done little but train in the time since Gabriel had been gone and Michael had been lost in himself, so he was easily able to best either of them one on one, and even now, with both of them injured as they were, he was holding his own. He began to feel that he might actually win this one after all. 

Michael noticed a blow coming for Gabriel that the littlest archangel was in no position to block so he pushed him out of the way, and taking Raphael’s blade deep in his stomach. Thankfully by this point most of the other seraphs had finished their fight and Raphael’s men were all down either dead or incapacitated, so they jumped in the fight against Raphael as well, seeing their leader go down. They managed to distract him long enough for Gabriel to pick himself up off the floor and get back to the fight as one of the seraphs dragged Michael out of the way so he wouldn’t get trampled. 

Gabriel’s rage over the potential loss of Michael gave him renewed strength in the fight and with nearly two dozen seraphs distracting him it didn’t take much longer for Gabriel to get a killing blow. Gabriel didn’t even wait for Raphael to hit the floor before he scrambled over to Michael, kneeling beside him and pulling his hands away from his stomach to get a look. “I’ll be okay…baby brother. It wasn’t…a killing blow. Just…need some time…to heal,” he gasped out. 

Gabriel breathed a sigh of relief at seeing for himself that Michael was correct. He would live and he let himself collapse to the floor, not having the energy to stay upright. He was still conscious though, unlike Michael who was drifting in and out, so he started handing out orders. He managed to get Michael to lift the lockdown in one of his more lucid moments and set four of the seraphs to guard the door. No one was to get into Michael’s office. He had another few seraphs get he and Michael to beds so they could heal up. Set some more to cleaning up the office and had them display the bodies in the atrium for now. Partially because they didn’t really have anywhere to store bodies before their memorials to give the others a chance to say goodbye and partially as a deterrent to anyone else planning a coup. 

He managed to get an answer from Michael about who should cover for him in his absence and called for that seraph and sent him to work. Finally, he called Balthazar. “I need you to go to my family and let them know that I made it, but I’m injured and drained and won’t be home for at least a week. Then I want you to stay with them to pass messages between us, and help protect them.”

“Gabriel,” Balthazar breathed out like he couldn’t believe he was finally seeing his brother again after so long. 

“I know, Balthy. I’ve been meaning to look you up, but things have been hectic since we came out of hiding. There’s no one else I would trust with my family though,” Gabriel told him gently. Seeing the normally jovial seraph so overcome wasn’t easy for him. 

“Thank you, Gabriel. I won’t let you down. I swear,” he said solemnly as he reached over and squeezed his big brother’s hand, one of the few uninjured parts of him, before he disappeared. 

Gabriel then turned to the last few seraphs. “Anything else I’ve forgotten to delegate for the moment?” he asked, desperately hoping the answer would be no and thankfully it was. “Good. You four guard the doors to this room. No one but Joshua or Balthazar gains entrance.”

“Yes, sir,” they said respectfully and hurried to their posts as Gabriel finally allowed himself to close his eyes and drift off into blissful unconsciousness.


	14. Chapter 14

Balthazar was smart enough to know that Gabriel’s family were probably on edge so he appeared on the other side of the room with his hands held high showing that he was unarmed, and said quickly, “I come in peace.”

“Who are you and what do you want?” Sam asked, taking the lead, despite the fact that Fenrir and Hela were standing mostly in front of him and Dean for protection.

“My name is Balthazar. Gabriel sent me,” he told them and winced as he was bombarded with questions, mostly about where Gabriel was and his state of health. 

The seraph let out a piercing whistle and it was their turn to wince. “Do they teach that in angel school?” Dean grumbled as he rubbed at his ears to get the ringing to stop. 

“Gabriel will be fine. He is injured and drained, but he will make a full recovery. He won’t be able to make it home for a while and didn’t want you to worry.”

“How bad is it?” Sam asked worriedly. 

“Nothing the slightest bit life-threatening. The only reason he’s in bad shape really is because the wounds were made with an archangel blade so they will take time to heal and until they do, he is leaking grace so will be pretty weak. Both he and Michael are in recovery and will be guarded around the clock until they are back up and around.”

“And Raphael? How is Michael?” Sam asked. 

“Raphael and thirteen seraphs that followed him are dead. Michael is gravely injured but expected to survive. He took a blade through the stomach meant for Gabriel. Barring any complications he’ll live.”

Sam sighed with relief. At least Gabriel wouldn’t have to take over heaven. He knew that his husband would hate every minute of that. While Gabriel wouldn’t have expected Michael to jump in front of a blade for him, Sam wasn’t the slightest bit surprised. They were so busy thinking over everything they had learned it was a few minutes before they realized that Balthazar had sat down and didn’t seem to be leaving. 

“You’re staying?” Sam asked confused. He would have thought that heaven would need all hands on deck in this crisis. 

“Yep,” Balthazar said. “I’ve been ordered to stay close and help protect you all, and of course carry any messages you may want to send.”

“If the danger is gone…” Dean started. 

“We didn’t discuss it in depth, but I would imagine that Gabriel is concerned that some of Raphael’s agents may still be hidden and use his and Michael’s incapacitation to make a move. He has people guarding the most important parts of heaven, including them, and I’m to guard you,” Balthazar explained. 

Sam could see that. He had heard a lot about Balthazar over the years and knew that despite his laid back, devil-may-care attitude, he was always on alert. He couldn’t imagine his bonded trusting anyone else with this job. Still, “You do realize Fenrir and Hela are more powerful than seraphs,” he pointed out. 

“Sure. I can see that much. But if there is an attack, they can’t call in reinforcements from heaven if we get outnumbered. At least not as quickly or easily. If needed, I can have a whole garrison here within ten seconds and ten times that number within five minutes,” Balthazar said lazily. 

“Well that is convenient,” Fenrir admitted. As much as he didn’t like the implication that he couldn’t protect his family, he wouldn’t let his pride get in the way of something that made them so much safer. 

“We should probably call the kids in for a snack since they didn’t get to finish their lunch and now that we have something to tell them,” Sam suggested. 

Hela nodded and went out to do so. Karame made a beeline for Sam the second he came in. “Where’s papa?”

“He had to go help Uncle Mikey. He’ll be back as soon as he can but it probably won’t be for at least a few days,” Sam told him. 

“But that’s forever!” Karame protested. 

“It won’t be so bad kitten. He sent another uncle for you to play with until he gets back though. This is your Uncle Balthy,” Sam told him and that drew all the kid’s attention to the newcomer. Balthazar, to no one’s shock, turned out to be a big hit with the kids, using his powers to amuse them and telling tall tales that grew with every passing moment. 

Over the course of the next few days, Sam found himself missing Gabriel dearly. He knew Karame had it worse though. In fact, he was basically expecting what happened five days after Gabriel left, which was the only reason he didn’t panic when he suddenly couldn’t find his son. At least not outwardly. 

Gabriel was just getting back to be after hobbling around for a little while just to have something to do when suddenly Karame was laying next to him on the bed in tears. “What’s wrong kitten?” he asked concerned, but the child just cuddled closer to him and kept crying. “Balthazar!” he called. When the seraph appeared, Gabriel asked, “Is everything okay at home?” 

“Everything is good. The little one has been missing you badly though,” Balthazar told him, assuming that was why he was asking when he noticed the crying child clinging to his brother. “Are you alright?” he asked, concerned that Karame was exacerbating his wounds with as tightly as he was attached. 

Gabriel just waved him off. “I’m okay. Go tell Sam that Karame is with me and I’ll keep him for a little while. I’ll call you to take him home later.” Balthazar gave him a lazy salute and disappeared to do as he was told and Gabriel turned his attention back to his son. “It’s okay, baby. Papa’s here and you can stay and visit for a bit, but don’t hold so tight please. Papa is a little hurt.”

“Papa hurt?” Karame asked through his tears as he loosened his grip. 

“Just a little bit. I’ll be okay, just be gentle with me for now okay?” Gabriel told him with a reassuring smile. 

“Kay, papa,” Karame said laying his head back on Gabriel’s shoulder. “Good now?” 

“That’s just fine, kitten. I missed you,” Gabriel said pressing a kiss to Karame’s head. 

“Missed you too. When coming home?” he sniffled. 

“Once I’m all better I’ll be able to come home. I might need to come back here and help for a little while though until Uncle Mikey is better, but I’ll still be home every day. Just maybe not all day. Is that okay?” 

“Kay. Long as you tuck me in every night,” Karame said seriously. 

“You got a deal,” Gabriel said with a chuckle. They needed to have a conversation about him disappearing like that, but that could wait until he was calmer. He did come straight to his other dad this time, so he didn’t technically disobey the rules of not going anywhere without one of them, but he was sure that Karame hadn’t gotten permission from Sam or even told him where he was going so it still warranted a conversation. Later. He’d missed his baby just as much as Karame had missed him, so he wasn’t about to have their first moments in almost a week be a scolding. 

It wasn’t long before he realized that Karame had cried himself to sleep, and a smile flitted across his face as he too closed his eyes and went into a healing sleep. A few hours later he was woken as Karame started to stir and a little fist brushed over one of his deeper cuts on his side. He sucked in a sharp breath but schooled his expression when Karame looked up at him. It seemed that now that he was calmer and rested, he remembered that Michael was hurt too because the first thing he asked was, “Is Unca Mikey okay?”

“Uncle Mikey is hurt pretty bad, but he’ll be okay,” Gabriel told him, ruffling Karame’s hair. Truthfully, Michael hadn’t woken up for more than ten minutes or so at a time, but Gabriel kept checking on his stomach wound and it was healing, so there was no cause for concern. He would try to keep Karame long enough to talk to Michael. It would be good for both of them. 

It was a few more hours before Michael woke up and Gabriel helped Karame climb up onto the bed, with strict instructions not to touch his stomach. Karame leaned over and kissed Michael’s forehead as the archangel groggily opened his eyes. When he saw Karame, and Gabriel leaning heavily on the wall next to him he smiled happily. “Hi kitten,” he said as cheerfully as he could manage. “You came to visit.”

“Uh-huh. I missed Papa. You okay?” he asked worriedly.

“I will be, but I think another kiss might help,” he said with a chuckle as Karame leaned down and kissed his forehead again. 

“Oh yeah. That’s much better. Thank you,” he said with a smile. Then he turned to look at Gabriel. “Please go lay down before you fall down.”

“I’m okay,” Gabriel said with some effort. 

“Uh-huh,” Michael said skeptically. 

“Okay, fine. Remember not to touch Uncle Mikey and come back over to my bed when he falls back asleep,” Gabriel reminded Karame. 

“Kay, Papa,” Karame said cheerfully. True to form Michael wasn’t awake for long and when he fell back asleep Karame went back over and cuddled, gently, next to Gabriel and they spent the next few hours chatting before Karame started to yawn again. 

“Okay, I think it’s about time for you to go back home and go to bed,” Gabriel said. 

“But I wanna stay with you!” he said as he seemed to be about to cry again. 

“I’m sure Daddy misses you by now. And your cousins missed playing with you all day. I’ll be home in a few days, and if I’m not home by Saturday you can come visit again okay? Just make sure Daddy knows that you’re going and Uncle Balthy will bring you okay? Remember you can’t just disappear without Daddy knowing where you are.”

“Promise?” he asked pitifully. 

“Yes, baby. I promise.”

“Kay.” Gabriel called Balthazar to take Karame home and to tell Sam that he could come visit again Saturday if he wasn’t home by then and that he had already talked to him about disappearing without letting anyone know. 

It turned out Gabriel made it home two days later on Friday though, so there was no need. He still went up to check on Michael a couple times a day and check in on Joshua to make sure he was managing to keep things running in Michael’s absence. It was another two weeks after that before Michael was back up and around and they arranged memorials for the fallen angels. Michael, of course, didn’t dwell on their transgressions, only saying that they had lost their way and making it clear that he wasn’t holding any grudges, and that was mostly true. Any grudge he had was reserved for Raphael, not those lost souls who followed him. No one else needed to know that though. Other than Gabriel, of course.

The battle and the following recovery served to bring the two brothers closer than ever, and now that they were out of hiding, Michael was a frequent visitor in their home, along with Bobby, Ellen, Jo, and Balthazar. The kids managed to make friends their own ages, though they did tend to steer clear of humans, sticking with other gods so that the aging differences wouldn’t come into question too much. They did go to human parks often though, just never in the same place for long and not usually too close to home either. 

It was about ten years after they came out of hiding before Fenny came home with a date. He had managed to fall in love with an angel that he had met named Zeniel. It was another few years before they bonded though, with Michael’s blessing as she wouldn’t consider it without it. 

Karame continued with his slow aging and had lived nearly thirty years before he was grown and come into his full powers. Dean and Hela had another child once Narfi and Nari were grown. A boy they named Robert, nicknamed Bobby, after Bobby had finally succumbed to old age a few years before. Sam and Gabriel, as he had gone back to that name after repairing his relationship with heaven, had a set of twins after Karame. Both girls who they doted on to the extreme. Even Fenny and Zeniel had a little girl. 

Fenrir and Zeniel and Dean and Hela eventually moved out and got their own place, though they were all very frequent visitors at Sam and Gabriel’s. Much more frequent than they had been before. At least once a week the whole family got together, including Michael, and it was the best kind of chaos. Gabriel even popped up to heaven to help out from time to time, usually with Karame in tow as he was the only other one who could get up there. They broke the news to him about his previous life after his coming of age party, but he declined to take back the grace and memories of Castiel. At least for now. Perhaps someday he would change his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is most likely the end of this series. You'll notice I left myself an out just in case I do decide to come back and do more someday though.


End file.
